Mattia Binotto, who has been targeted by the Italian press for several weeks, said he takes full responsibility for Ferrari’s Formula 1 failure this year.

He also said that his engineers have already started to develop the car scheduled for 2021 and are focusing primarily on the engine component that has been sorely lacking in the scuderia since the start of the season.

“The whole team is responsible and I’m the boss of the team. Now we have to move forward.” reports a bullish Binotto,

“If we look back at the different stages, it will take us a long time to get back to a good level. So a lot of patience and stability will be needed,

“This season is almost over for us because the engine development is frozen [for 2020].”

F1 has put a freeze on engine development in place as part of its cost-saving mandate amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Manufacturers will be able to introduce a new power unit specification for the start of 2021, and will be permitted to make one upgrade for each major component that year and the year after – before freezing the power units completely for 2023 and 2024.

“But we are not standing still.” continues Binotto,

“At the moment we are trying to understand the weak points of our car and we have already started our development for next season.

“Since we have restrictions on the car, to do our job well we will have to understand everything that is wrong.

“At the moment we are focusing mainly on the engine part to make up our deficit. The first tests on the test bench are positive for the moment.”